BUGS!

Elementary students need several strategies in problem solving to be successful.  I attended the NCTM (National Conference for Teachers of Mathematics) and the presenters shared "BUGS" for teaching problem solving.  B stands for "Bracket the Question".  U is for "Underline the Question".  G is for "Cross out the Garbage" and S is for "Solve the Problem".  My students also know the S is for "What Strategy did you use?"  Here is a picture from my classroom.  BUGS is another way to teach your students how to solve word problems.  Be sure to give your students the tools to make them successful in mathematics.

These are the individual cards. 

Problem Solving Bulletin Board

Teaching problem solving in the elementary grades helps our students develop strategies and skills they can use the rest of their lives.  This bulletin board helps them learn the strategies and also helps as a reference.  The child tell me the strategy they used for a problem and I put them on the board.  Some of these are:  draw a picture, write a number sentence, make a list, guess and check, use a model, etc.  One student said to reread the problem if it doesn't make sense and we added that strategy to the board.  It is their resource!  Also, I have a laminated chart we use when looking at math word problems or tasks.  The "K" stands for "What do we know?"  The "W" is "What is the Question?" The "N" is for "What do we not Need?"  The "S" is for the "solution or how we solved the problem?"  This board helps the give the students the tools for solving problems.